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He was issued with a discounted rail ticket there before catching a train to Bournemouth for a connection to Yorkshire.

Some fellow passengers even applauded him when they saw him still in full battle gear.

He said: "I was nearly home when the ticket was checked and the conductor said I had to pay £50.50 extra. I wasn't happy but in the end I offered to pay the difference between a discounted and a normal ticket.

"With the help of a girl on the train I scraped together the £50.50 it cost, but when he made that 'taking a bullet' remark it really wound me up.

"I admit I was kicking off but I couldn't believe he said that. Luckily none of my mates out there were killed, but for all he knew my best friend could have died. He doesn't know anything and had no right to say something like that."

Rifleman Hoyland was asked to leave the train at Chesterfield station where he had to wait another half an hour for another train to his home city of Sheffield.

He added: "I think the conductor just doesn't like squaddies and thought 'I'm having him off'.

"People on the train were looking at him and couldn't believe what he was doing and after I got off a bloke came over who had been on the train and said it was disgraceful."

Rifleman Hoyland's mother Samantha Wood, 40, described what had happened to him as "absolutely disgusting".

She said: "He has been in Iraq fighting and serving his country. He is not asking for any recognition for anything.

"People were clapping and cheering him when they saw his uniform. He has seen action in Iraq. He had even volunteered to go to Iraq and tag on to another regiment. He is going for a tour of duty in Afghanistan in October."

A spokesman for Cross Country Trains, the train operating company involved, said: "There will be no discounts available without an armed forces railcard.

"We will investigate this if the gentleman concerned wishes to contact us directly."